On the ropes, down by ten in the fourth quarter Tom Brady, Super Bowl XLIX MVP, engineered a dramatic come back to give the New England Patriots a 28-24 and their fourth Super Bowl title.
Then defensive back Malcolm Butler picked Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson on the ensuing possession at the goal line to secure a dramatic championship for the Patriots in what will go down as one of the most exciting Super Bowls ever played.
Butler’s pick came soon after his deflection of a Wilson pass wound up in the hands of Jermaine Kearse on an acrobatic catch that would’ve been one of the greatest in NFL history.
New England looked beat after a disastrous run from just before halftime through the early fourth quarter when its offense stalled and its defense got torched by an unheralded wideout Chris Matthews. Seattle led 24-14 with 7:55 remaining in the game.
However, as is the franchise’s personality, it rolled with the punches, never lost faith in the plan, and despite trailing 24-14, leaned on their Hall of Fame quarterback.
Brady shook off two critical interceptions to lead two big time scoring drives with the game on the line. He capped the first with a touchdown pass to Danny Amendola, the next to Julian Edelman with just 2:02 remaining
Brady finished with 328 yards passing and two touchdowns.
This is a classic championship game full of massive momentum swings. New England looked like the better team early, despite building just a 14-7 lead. Then Seattle rolled back to score 17 unanswered points and build what looked like a commanding lead. Then back came New England.
The various runs weren’t just about one team playing well, but the other suddenly become futile offensively.
The game is expected to record monster ratings and perhaps beat the record of 49.1 set in 1981 with the San Francisco-Cincinnati Super Bowl. There are more entertainment choices now, but the game was filled with big name stars and a huge snowstorm swept across a number of major television markets in the East.
This is New England’s fourth Super Bowl as a franchise, all of them under the coach-QB tandem of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. It helps ease the sting of two Super Bowl losses to the New York Giants and allegations over the last couple of weeks they played the AFC title game with purposefully inflated footballs.
Unlike in those losses to New York, the Patriots were able to withstand a late Seattle drive by Russell Wilson to close out the game.
The loss ends Seattle’s dream of winning consecutive Super Bowls, an accomplishment last achieved by New England.
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